50 Years of Sweet Happiness at Dianda’s Bakery

This year Dianda’s Bakery at 2883 Mission St. is celebrating its 50-year anniversary.

Elio Dianda was a recognized chef in Tuscany when he migrated to the United States in the 1950s and opened a bakery. Pasquale Dianda and his brothers, Armando and Floriano, inherited the bakery in 1962.

Eight years ago, Dianda’s was sold to employees Floyd Goldberg, Sergio Flores and Luis Peña. Pasquale still works there part-time.

I visited a few days before Easter. A mixture of sweet smells filled the air, and the kitchen was full of hardworking men dressed in white and covered in flour. Each baker had a specific job to do.

At one of the three long tables, Pasquale Dianda, Floyd Goldberg and a crew worked on the cakes; at another table, bakers created napoleons; and at the third, cream puffs and panettone were in the works. Big mixers magically brought together flour, eggs, fruits and all the other ingredients needed to create light and airy panettone, napoleons, cannolis and cream puff-encircled St. Honore cakes.